Articles by Section - Our Thoughts

Last week we ran on these pages an editorial that encouraged voters not to just vote for a candidate because they had a "D" or a "R" behind their name or to vote for a candidate because of the color of their skin.

The Newton County Board of Commissioners agreed Thursday to postpone a vote on a contentious landfill settlement after several hundred citizens turned out to voice their opposition to an overly hasty resolution.

If in your travels around the Newton Community and the Social Circle community and you have been ashamed to see the trash that litters our highways and byways, next Saturday is your chance to not only get involved but in the process do something positive for our communities.

The Association County Commissioners of Georgia is once again trying to get the state's General Assembly to make it harder for Georgia's residents to keep up with what is going on in the governments they support.

The official start of the Lenten season began this past week and we have heard many of our friends and colleagues talking about what they were going to give up for the 40 days leading up to the celebration of Christ's resurrection.

The camera crews and on-air personality from Atlanta's Channel 11 were in Newton County last week for some in-your-face television journalism aimed at revealing to the world the sorry state of affairs in our local county government.

After a week of appropriations hearings, we were back in session last week. The facts from the hearings were pretty sobering. Georgia, while not being in the kind of fiscal dire straights that other states are in, has more tough budget decisions ahead. Our initial challenge is to make corrections to the present, fiscal 2010, budget. The first half of the fiscal year (July through December of 2009) saw substantial declines in revenues. While it appears that we may be near the bottom of the downturn, with hopes that revenues will soon flatten rather than fall, the state will still ...

Newton County Sheriff Ezell Brown should be applauded for beginning a new law enforcement tradition. Brown has instituted a Purple Heart honor for deputies injured in the line of duty and a Lifesaving Award for those who go above and beyond the call of duty during life-threatening situations.

Over the past few weeks we have noticed a decrease in donations coming in the Newton County Sheriff's Office for the inVEST fund. The fund for the highest quality bullet-proof vests for our county's heroes has only grown a bit over $5,500 since Christmas.

The Covington News has pledged to run the names of the week's donors, as well as total funds raised that week, every Friday for a year. We would hate to print the total every Friday and not have reached the goal of $113,000 by September, especially since almost 65 percent of ...

What this state needs is a good old-fashioned Tea Party. Not one directed at the liberal weenies in Washington who tried to ram health care reform down our throats. This protest needs to focus on the State of Georgia.

You'd have to be eligible for Social Security to remember the last time a Republican sat in the Senate seat made vacant last year when Ted Kennedy died. Scott Brown is the first Republican to win the seat since Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. won it in 1946.

Readers familiar with me know, hopefully, that I try to phrase my thoughts so as not to directly offend those with differing viewpoints. But every once in a while it's necessary to throw caution to the winds and let it rip.